A Marauder's Journey To The Great Shinobi Nations
by TheRedxHabanero
Summary: When the Marauders meet the Warriors of Muggle legend, they are in for a ride much bigger than their magical education. Set after the Five Kage Summit Arc.
1. A Way Lost On Muggle Territory

Chapter 1: A Way Lost On Muggle Territory

Four boys stood by the varnished oak doors, looking at the swarm of students circling the hall on the other side of the crack. One was what the average person would call rather skinny, had a pale face etched with exhaustion, and was wearing shabby robes that emphasised this well. His name was Remus Lupin. Beside him stood Sirius Black, who looked quite the opposite with his wide-stretched grin under a mop of lustrous black hair. His grey eyes glinted with the enthusiasm of a small child receiving his first toy broomstick - or in the case of a Muggle, their first bicycle. Slightly further back from the door slouched a shorter boy who's features strongly resembled those of a rat. He had mousy brown hair and small watery eyes that made him seem a good year or two younger than his friends, which he could easily be mistaken for, had someone not looked closely enough to see the few rough hairs of puberty unshaven on his chin. He was Peter Pettigrew.

The last boy was leaning closest to the crack at the door and one could tell he was the leader of the group. This boy had plenty of confidence and an aura about him that could easily attract trouble, reflected in the way he stood. His hair was jet black and messy, looking uncombed for several days. And maybe it was. He coolly ran his fingers through to brush a few loose strands away from his face, revealing a pair of round glasses and brown eyes gleaming with excitement. His name was James Potter, and he was expected to live up to his family's reputation of becoming a great and powerful wizard. But right now he was opposing this by skipping his routinely Charms lesson for what he thought was a much more useful and fascinating form of education.

Apparition. The art of allowing one's body to vanish into thin air and then reappear at any desired location, unless said location contained a counter-spell or barrier, which the boys' current destination usually held. But not today. For the purposes of the first apparition lesson that those turning 17 had the pleasure of taking part in, the Great Hall of the Hogwarts castle had that particular barrier taken down. The four long tables had also been moved, making the room much more spacious to allow for the act of vanishing and reappearing.

The drone of voices seemed to echo more than usual - well, there was certainly more excitement in the air today - as the students spread out, each now standing in a comfortable spot with a few metres of open space in front of them. On the ground in front of each was a hoop. These hoops were, to the normal eye, described as being 'magical,' circles of pink dust that hovered above the stone floor. But when the chatter died down the students no longer focused on the hoops, but on the short man standing at the end of the hall instead, waiting eagerly for his instructions.

"They're starting now" James whispered, and then squeezed through the gap in the door.

Sirius was the first to follow his friend, and looked over his shoulder expectantly when he didn't hear the soft shuffle of feet behind him. Remus and Peter looked at each other nervously, hesitating for a moment.

Peter was considered to be the most 'cowardly' of the four, though 'coward' was a word rarely used - if _ever _- when referring to a fellow noble student of Gryffindor House. Still, he was extremely hesitant to try new things, but one couldn't really blame him for when he was always seen with Sirius Black and James Potter who only had eyes for mischief - and in the latter's case, a certain redhead with the name of Lily Evans.

Remus, on the other hand, didn't want to be here at all. In all honesty, he would rather be in class learning about cheering charms. Not that he believed cheering charms to be nearly as fascinating as apparition, but because he was what all authority figures regarded a 'good boy' and he'd planned on keeping that reputation for his last two years of schooling.

"Come _on, _Moony!"

Sirius' voice temporarily drowned away his thoughts, and knowing he would regret this later, Remus stepped into the hall.

"…and these three Ds are the basic fundamentals of apparition" the examiner was saying, though Remus hardly heard him. His mind was elsewhere, and Sirius shook his head at his friend's stupidity, turning his head to face the sea of students blocking his view of the examiner, and listening to the speech. This apparition lesson was more important to him right now than anything else and he wholeheartedly shared James' belief that their popularity would sky-rocket when they showed everyone they could apparate a whole year earlier than their peers, not to mention being among the youngest wizards to ever do so.

Remus was thinking along similar lines, only that he didn't so much care about waiting until next year, and he wasn't as big a fan of breaking the rules. Peter, on the other hand, seemed to think it was worth it because James and Sirius had said so, and that was the way it always was. Remus was almost sure that if his two comical friends decided to jump into the giant squid's mouth in the Black Lake, Peter would follow without hesitation. He himself wouldn't go _that_ far.

In fact, he was considering sneaking away back to Charms, but stopped mid-thought when James grabbed his arm, pulling him behind a group of girls from Ravenclaw close to a corner of the hall. James nodded and Remus followed his gaze. To his horror, he saw Professor Dumbledore strolling towards the oak doors he had just come through only moments ago, and stopping to lean against the wall beside them to watch the lesson.

"…and remember carefully and maintain focus on _all_ three while performing the apparition, otherwise you will find yourself in trouble…"

Remus looked around at his friends and then frowned when he saw James and Sirius' silly grins. Peter seemed to share his anxiety as he stood twiddling his thumbs while shooting nervous glances at Dumbledore. Their headmaster, however, was too focused on the few students brave enough to attempt the task first to notice them.

"Is everyone ready yet?" James asked, drawing his wand.

Sirius nodded excitedly and Peter mumbled something that James took for a yes. James turned to Remus, and he was either incredibly oblivious or decided it safest to ignore the look he received back. Remus was sure it was the latter.

"We should do it at the same time" James continued.

"But lets make it more interesting" Sirius added. "How about we apparate into each others' places?"

"Hey, yeah, good idea Padfoot. I'll apparate to where Moony is standing and he will take my spot while you and Wormtail exchange places. How about it?" James looked at Remus expectantly.

Remus wanted to slap him, though it didn't seem he was the only one. Sirius' grin morphed into a scowl and he glanced uncertainly at Peter who was looking at the ceiling mumbling something to himself. His pride stopped him from arguing. It was _his_ idea after all. Remus felt himself beginning to smirk. He thought Sirius had a good chance at getting the apparition right first try, but Peter? An image danced across his mind in which their bodies were merged, Sirius' head and arms sticking out of Peter's back as he struggled pointlessly to free himself. That sight would make this worth it after all, even if it won them weeks worth of detentions.

"W-what are the three Ds again?" Peter squeaked.

"Destination, determination and deliberation" James answered, his eyes now focused on the ground at Remus' feet. "Alright, let's go on three…One…Two…Three!"

James clutched his wand tightly, spun on his heel and felt the world race against him as it twisted and turned. There was a blur of what looked like windows rushing past. James felt an odd sensation that something was wrong, though this could well have been the effect of the new wave of nausea that was rapidly beginning to rise inside him, so he squeezed his eyes shut as hard as he could in attempt to rid it. He barely had time to think of a possible sane reason as to why there were _buildings_ flashing past in the place of stone walls and Hogwarts robes. James kept his field of vision black to the inside of his eyelids, fearing he was going to throw up, and so didn't notice the spiral of trees, cliffs and mountains that had now appeared all around him. Something hard collided with his chest and he gasped in harsh lungfuls of cold air. _Really_ cold air. Freezing, icy cold…

He realised had stopped, and was now lying flat on his back. But the cold stone floor of the Great Hall was not what was beneath him. It was harder, colder, sharp and uneven ground that felt like rock. James' breath had finally returned, and he felt it safe to open his eyes again. But he half wished he hadn't, for what surrounded him was not a hall full of students, not a room inside Hogwarts, not even a familiar patch of the castle grounds. It was mountains. Mountains peering through thick stretches of cloud. Mountains looming over rivers of water. Mountains running along a never-ending valley. Where in the name of Merlin was he?

James stood up subconsciously, his nausea having fled in shock. It was all that consumed him now - just shock. And he almost suffered a heart attack when he noticed a shape jerk up from the corner of his eye. His wand arm reacted immediately and his brain scoured rapidly through his mental arsenal of spells, searching for one best suited to his current predicament. But there was no need as the shape next to him was only Remus, who was taking in his new surroundings with the same awe.

"Moony" James gasped stupidly. "What- what's going on? Where are we?"

In a normal situation where James acted so exasperated, Remus would have smirked and teased him for losing his 'cool' manner. But _this_ situation was about as far from normal as any could get, and being wizards they were used to expecting things out of the ordinary. Remus' voice had decided to betray him and he only mimicked his friend's action of staring around sheepishly with his mouth wide open. They were standing on a jagged cliff ledge, its width thick enough for about ten people to stand single file. The edge was attached to more rock which ran upwards, too steep to climb, and the other vertical side ducked straight down towards a river.

"Where are Padfoot and Wormtail?" James finally asked, properly looking at Remus for the first time. He tried not to show it, but the worry was there.

"I don't know" Remus replied, his voice shaking. "Maybe they are still at Hogwarts? Peter most likely would be, right?"

James felt a shiver at the mention of his friend's real name. When it was just the four of them they referred to each other by nicknames, but Remus saying 'Peter' indicated that he was now very serious. This was no longer a game. When the rest of Remus' words sunk in, James felt a bit more at ease. To put it _nicely_, Wormtail was a little slow at things, and most likely hadn't managed to apparate an inch in front of him. But if James and Remus could pull something like this off, then so could Sirius surely.

"Do you think it had something to do with their focusing?" Remus asked.

"What are you on about?"

"They were concentrating on apparating to each other's spots while me and you focused on trading places with each other. Maybe that's why we ended up in the same place."

This did make sense James supposed. "So what do you think happened to them?"

Remus' thought returned of Sirius and Peter being stuck in one body with their struggling limbs tangled. Its funny how a few minutes can change one's thoughts completely, for he no longer found it hilarious, and if he had the choice he would rather pick being merged with someone else in a room with the greatest wizard in the world than to be stuck on this cliff edge in the middle of nowhere.

"We should look for help" suggested James.

"Yeah" he replied shortly, not knowing what else to say. Would there really be any help in the middle of nowhere?

"Which way do you reckon?"

Remus shrugged.

James took a long look at the rock around and since he hadn't the faintest clue where this jagged ledge would lead them, he decided to obey his impulse and take the path snaking in a slight upwards slant. If they followed the crevasse downwards they would end up on the river bank, and who knows how many miles it stretched for. Remus thought his decision wise and followed.

James listened to the rhythm of their footsteps on the rock, growing increasingly anxious. He never was one to handle long silences very well, unlike Remus who was more of a solitary person.

"Well" he laughed nervously. "I guess one thing can be said."

"What would that be?"

"If this was a real apparition test, then we would have aced it as far as distance goes."

Remus was not impressed. Not impressed at all. And for the first time in his life, he found himself wishing was Peter Pettigrew. No brains, no self confidence (not that he had that much himself in anything except in his grades), no exceptional talent, and no rare gift of apparating to some far away unknown place surrounded by cloud and mountains. Yes, he was sure his 'wimpy' little friend was safe and sound - as much as one could be when caught trying to perform strictly banned magic for reasons now very well understood - in the Hogwarts castle with Sirius, in the worst case scenario being rushed to the hospital wing.

Little did he know that Sirius was in fact not at Hogwarts, but about twenty miles east from where he and James had been transported, surrounded by a group of unsuspecting Muggles armed with weapons and techniques that far succeeded the abilities of his own.

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TBC?

**AN: In truth I have not read a full crossover story before. I am planning on making this a long one, almost novel length maybe. Other chapters will be longer if successful. Will update if people are interested. So please review (reviews also motivate me to write faster...)**


	2. Unexpected Abilities

**AN: Just wanna say thanks to the reviewers who's comments were very much appreciated. The Kage will come in very soon, and about Pettigrew, he will be brought back later. I do personally like his character so I do not mean to bash... As for anything else or any characters / pairings you wanna se, I am open to suggestions. Enjoy.**

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Chapter 2: An Encounter With People Of Unexpected Abilities

Unlike the ringleader and more serious of his group of friends, Sirius didn't have a lot of time to contemplate his new surroundings. In fact, he barely had enough time to take in the new sweet aroma of flowers or even manage to lift himself into a sitting position before he was pushed - or for want of a better word, violently _attacked_ - by someone that appeared to have come out of nowhere.

Unthought-of by him in his brief moment of panic, this was indeed the first thing that had struck his attacker's mind, for _he_ was the one to have just emerged out of thin air. He felt his back slam against something hard and to increasing horror, heard a loud crack. Though thankfully it was the growl of the table now beneath him, not his own back giving way. Before his next thought could form, he was forced to leap aside to avoid being hit by a sharp object. From the small glimpse he caught it looked like some sort of knife, and he would have - had he not currently been in this predicament - laughed at the thought of nearly being killed by a _Muggle. _

Sirius didn't need to second-guess that the person who had thrown it _was_ in fact a Muggle as she now stood facing him clutching a second knife, in an outfit that certainly didn't resemble witches' robes, and seemed completely unfazed by his wand directed at her chest. Either that, or she took him for some cocky snot-nosed kid who was a good deal overconfident in his magical abilities - which he no doubt happened to be - but the former was more likely the case, as she herself was a girl that looked no older than 16.

"What the hell was that?" Sirius shouted, ashamed of the squeal that decided to escape his throat as if to embarrass him further.

Her brow furrowed. "You're asking _me_ that? _You,_ who just magically appeared out of thin air in _my _tent?"

Sirius looked around, puzzled. It was very well true that he had apparated into a tent. To make it worse, a _girl's _tent. And to top that off, a _Muggle girl's_ tent. Apparition. Magic. An unsuspecting Muggle. This was not good.

To say it was merely common courtesy for a wizard to stow his wand away when in the presence of someone with non-magical abilities would be an understatement. It was _law, _which Sirius had just broken. If he was honest with himself he would admit he was at a major wrong here, beg for this girl's forgiveness at having intruded into her sanctuary, and come up with a some-what sane excuse for having appeared there in the blink of an eye. He was, however, _not_ honest with himself and denied the impulse of lowering his wand, reassuring his guilt-filled conscious that this behaviour was perfectly okay as said girl had tried to murder him for the very unjust reason of having invaded a bit of her privacy.

"Well what did you try to kill me for?" he shouted before he could stop himself, glancing warily at the second knife in her hand.

"What did you expect?" she retorted. "I was defending myself!"

"From what? I didn't touch you!"

"Only because I got you first! You underestimated me!"

Underestimated her? What in the name of Merlin was she talking about? Sirius forced his gaze away from the knife and looked back at her face, putting on his best offence-taken expression. "You're the one who tried to kill _me!_ _I'm_ the victim here, and I sure as hell di-"

"_You're_ the victim?" she asked, her expression now of complete outrage.

"Yeah, I am!"

"Then tell me why you magically appeared in the middle of my tent! Why couldn't you use the door?"

Sirius frantically searched his brain for an answer - the current concept of the word being a safe lie that would not put his life in further immediate danger - but nothing came so he instead ran over his options. The easiest would be to stun the Muggle and leave her to wake a few hours later with an agonising headache and probable damage to her mentality. Giving girls headaches was something he did quite often according to his best friend's crush, but this situation was too big for him to just walk away from like nothing happened. And this particular girl seemed dangerous.

Sirius was too busy contemplating over the infortunes of his next-to-none knowledge of memory charms to have sooner noticed her growing impatience. She raised the knife threateningly, her knuckles turning white as she gripped it tighter.

"It was an accident" he blurted out, his wand arm beginning to shake. He felt below stupid for trying to explain this to someone who didn't know of magic's existence, but he didn't know what else to do. "I-I didn't mean to come here. Me and my friends were just trying something new-"

"Your friends?" she interrupted. "Who?"

Sirius stared at the girl, who's expression was now etched with suspicion. "They're from school" he said uncertainly.

"How many?"

"H-How many what?"

"Friends! How many of you?"

"There are four of us."

"Are they here too?"

"…I don't know."

"Who sent you?"

"No-one sent me-"

"You're lying! If you don't tell the truth-"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Sirius was at a complete loss. He lifted his wand as the girl raised her knife higher.

She eyed it suspiciously. "What are you doing with that?"

He knew he couldn't keep this up much longer, as her question about his friends had triggered another distracting thought. Could they be here as well? Whether or not, he had to go somewhere he could think properly. And the sooner the better. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you" he said, keeping his voice calm.

The girl didn't look convinced at all. "You're not wearing a village headband and you don't look like a shinobi" she said, eyes narrowed at his Hogwarts robes. "But you managed to sneak in here without being caught. You're a spy."

Sirius hadn't the faintest clue what she was talking about, but her last words struck him with shock. What in the world could have given her a reason to accuse him of being a spy? And stating that he'd _snuck_ in without being _caught_. A cold chill rushed through his body. Had he stumbled into a Muggle camp?

His moment's hesitation seemed to confirm the accusation and the girl lost no time in striking again. His days as a member of the Gryffindor duelling club most certainly came in handy as he was quick to react, sending a stunning spell before she could slash at him. She dodged, however, and before Sirius' mind could process this he felt something cold touch his neck, sending a jolt of shivers through his body.

"Drop the stick, and don't move."

He felt hot breath tickle his ear and to his horror realised the voice belonged to the girl, who was now standing behind him diagonally, her knife edge pushed to the side of his throat. '_How did she do that?'_ was all he could think and he barely let go of his wand before the tent door zipped open and a man stepped in.

This man looked very similar to the girl and if Sirius had to guess, they were closely related. He too had long blonde hair tied in a ponytail that trailed down his back, blue-green eyes and a well defined jaw. To put it bluntly, he looked intimidating. If it was because of his pitch black overcoat or the sight he had just stumbled upon, Sirius didn't know. But of one thing he was certain. This man, wizard or not, wasn't someone he would purposely want to cross.

"What is this?" he asked, looking from the girl to Sirius in shock.

"I was about to bring him to you, Dad."

'_Dad?_' Sirius thought, his fear rising. _'And what does she mean 'bring me to him'?'_

"I think he's a spy" the girl continued. "But his technique is something we've never seen before and he uses that stick as a weapon which complements his jutsu."

She must have nodded towards his wand because the man's eyes drifted away from him and down to the ground. He bent to pick it up and examined it for a moment before turning back to his daughter. "You did well, Ino. We'll take him to the Intel Division."

Sirius gulped. The man grasped his shoulder and stepped towards him, motioning for his daughter to let the boy go and pulling out his own knife which he put dangerously close to Sirius' neck. Never had Sirius been taken hostage by Muggles let alone wizards before - not that he'd had much experience with Muggles during his life, but how often could one be defeated by someone with non-magical blood when armed with a wand? This was, to put it straight, a major embarrassment. He was thankful that James wasn't here to see that. But then again, if James _was_ here, then maybe with the two of them… _'Nah,'_ he thought to himself worriedly, running the event through his mind again as he was dragged out of the tent, _'there's no way these are ordinary Muggles…'_

The girl had evaded his spell as if she'd _known_ it was coming and somehow managed to creep up behind him without using a trace of magic at all. And now he came to think of it, she didn't even seem _surprised_ to see the red light erupt from the end of his wand. Then her father had praised her for having caught him which suggested to Sirius that she had in fact been trained in some sort of fighting art and he now had the crazy idea it was _normal_ for her to beat people up and capture them. She most certainly was not a witch, having referred to his wand as a 'stick' - and what an ignorant insult that was - but she had called his magic a sort of 'technique.' Who were these people and what did she mean by _technique?_ Sirius hoped his friends hadn't also the misfortunes of having apparated into a mess like this and prayed that they would come to his rescue.

* * *

Ironically, James and Remus found themselves wishing to have ended up somewhere civilised, their legs aching from having walked so long uphill along a jagged cliff edge. And relief came like a miracle when they spotted four men travelling in their direction across a higher ledge.

"Over here!" James shouted and threw his arms in the air. His voice was croaky from lack of speech for having shared only the company of a sulky Remus who he'd given up trying to communicate with hours ago.

When the men were close enough to be distinguished from one another, the two friends immediately knew they were not wizards, for they wore flak jackets that had scroll patches instead of robes with wand pockets and each had a headband with a marking that resembled a leaf. Instead of wands, they carried special small weapons that looked similar to knives and others which were star-shaped, seemed to be used for throwing.

Judging by their attire, these men were dangerous and James had an inkling that he and Remus may have been better off with no company at all. And how right he was, for before he could even think let alone say or do anything, he was shoved from behind and fell to his knees, feeling his wrists being bound. A dull thud to his right told him the same thing had happened to Remus, and when he glanced back up at the newcomers, only two were standing in his line of vision. The others had somehow managed to get behind them at lightning speed, their shadows now cast over the two boys.

"Get them up" one of the men commanded. He was tall with sleek, dark hair running past his shoulders and had - James was sure it was a trick of the light - gleaming, white eyes with no pupils.

James glanced at Remus who's expression reflected his own horror. None of the men spoke a word to either of them or their own comrades, and James found it harder than Remus to keep his mouth shut in fear of getting into further trouble. So he let the man behind him push him forward every few seconds, forcing him to keep walking. He searched the two men in front for any clue as to why he could have been bound, coming to the conclusion that this group was at some sort of war judging by their flak jackets and weapons, and had assumed that he and Remus were enemies. That, or they belonged to some kind of Muggle tribe - which he had heard stories about from Muggle-born friends at Hogwarts - that were cannibals and were taking him to their base to roast and eat for dinner.

Like Sirius, he too had minimal experience with people of non-magical families, being a pureblood wizard. But what a farfetched story it was, that Muggles could actually _eat_ each other. He had never believed it, but now came to think of how anyone could survive out in a place like this surrounded by only cliffs and mountains, and found it hard to believe many animals would even live around here. And then again, the leader of the group did have _white pupil-less eyes_ which didn't look all too human as far as James had seen…

Unable to ponder over his crazy and ridiculous thoughts any longer, he finally risked the chance to speak. "Where are you taking us?" he asked, staring at the red swirl insignia on the white-eyed man's back.

The man didn't turn to look at him, but kept walking ahead of the group. James waited, but didn't get an answer. He turned to look at Remus who caught his eye and mouthed something James didn't understand. But before his lips could form the beginning of the word 'what,' the man spoke, making them both jump.

"I wouldn't try and escape if that's what you're planning."

James and Remus looked at each other in shock. Was he speaking to _them?_ Could this man see through the back of his head? No way… James dismissed it as a coincidence and Remus must have as well because he mouthed the word more slowly this time so James could catch it properly.

_Stag._

Was he telling him to transform? Now? James felt his heart rate beginning to rise. This may be only their chance of escape as neither could currently attempt other magic with their hands bound and their wands in their pockets. It would certainly give the men the element of surprise and in that moment he could knock one or two of them off the cliff-

"Hoheto, I've just received word from Inoichi."

James momentarily lost his trail of thought when another of the men spoke. He was holding his hands together in an odd way and his eyes were closed as though he was doing a silent prayer as he walked. But James was more concerned about the leader. When he turned, he tried to get a glimpse of his face again to see if his eyes really _were_ pupil-less.

"They've got the other boy down at the Intel Division now" the other continued. "He says his name's Padfoot."

James and Remus both gasped audibly.

'_They've got Sirius.'_

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TBC


	3. Reunion

**AN: Sorry to the late update, being a ridiculous wait for such short chapters. Next will be much earlier. Thanks again to the reviewers. Hope you enjoy.**

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Chapter 3: Reunion Under Fearful Circumstances

Sirius felt the numbness devour his hands, his fingers throbbing like they were going to fall off. _'Could they not have tied it a little looser?'_ he thought bitterly, resisting the temptation to struggle against his bounds. He had found out very quickly that movement would only cause more pain. What was the point in struggling anyway? If somehow he miraculously managed to slip out of the rope then he would just receive a new one straight afterwards. And he would probably be caught in a second by the man leering at him from the corner of the room.

He didn't know which frightened him more; this man's petrifying gaze and alarmingly big arsenal of knife-like weapons he was sure to have hidden in that large coat, or the thought of what punishment would be dealt to him when the 'other hostages' arrived.

For the time being, that was all he knew - there were other hostages coming. The blonde man with the ponytail had dragged him at knife-point to this massive, dark tent where he was met with more horror at a new face. He had thought his captor was intimidating at first but compared to this new man he might as well have been a pygmy puff.

His face was covered in scars and burn marks illustrating the fact that he had been severely tortured on more than one occasion, and his expression was unrelenting. Sirius gulped audibly when they made eye contact and felt beyond terrified when his captor was called away, leaving him alone with this scarred zombie from hell. Yes, this was an exaggeration, but could one really blame him when he had been taken hostage after nearly losing his life to these people?

"Inoichi-san," a woman had said, "Hyuuga's team has responded. They're bringing the others here now." She too wore a brown flat jacket over a red uniform, similar to the ones of everyone Sirius had passed on his way here. The only notable difference was the colours which suggested that they belonged to different groups, not unlike students of the Hogwarts Houses, but were under the same affiliation. And at that news, Inoichi had exited the tent, leaving Sirius to wait anxiously for his return under the piercing gaze of the scarred man.

He attempted to distract himself to calm his rising fear, but there was not much else to look at inside the tent, only an off-grey counter that shaped a semi-circle around a dome-like machine - he was sure that _machine_ was the proper term - or some other sort of non-wizard device which could fit about six people if they crouched inside it. _Non-wizard _was the word Sirius had come up with for these people. Perhaps they were something between a wizard and Muggle. Or his eyes had deceived him to think that the girl had vanished from his line of vision to reappear behind him in the blink of an eye.

Either way, he supposed it wouldn't matter. There wasn't much point in pondering over the facts any longer, as he was sure that when Inoichi returned he would receive some unimaginable torture that would kill him.

"Curious, eh?" the man broke the ice, making Sirius jump and sending a jolt of pain through his wrists. Sirius hesitantly followed his eyes, pushing aside the mad thought that if he took his eyes off him he would be attacked, and realised that he was talking about the machine. His voice betrayed him.

But the man didn't seem to be waiting for an answer.

"You can count yourself lucky, kid" he continued roughly. "Today, you get it easy."

If this statement was supposed to be reassuring, it most certainly failed, as Sirius' heart rate increased tenfold. Now he wondered whether he would even _make_ it to the torture stage without suffering a heart attack. The man's eyes searched his face for signs of fear. And he was getting plenty, for the boy now looked a ghost had just walked through him… Not that that hadn't happened before…

"Inoichi's too soft. I'm sure we could have had much more fun. Torture is my specialty." The corners of his mouth lifted into a smirk. "But you don't seem the shinobi type…Huh, you look more like a lost puppy. It would be too easy."

Sirius felt the little remaining colour drain from his face. This man's specialty was torture, there was no surprise there. He was so good at his job in fact, that Sirius reckoned he was already receiving more torture just by having to be in the same room as him than he had ever felt in his life, including the agonising years spent in his mother's house. He didn't even care that he, a noble Gryffindor, had just been below shamed, compared to a _lost puppy_. He just wanted to get as far away from these people as possible.

"Wh-what are you going to do to me?" his voice was coarse from fear more than lack of speech, but this didn't bother him. Knowing that there was something very horrible coming but unsure of what was possibly the worst thing one could experience. He couldn't stand it any longer.

The man looked pleased for finally getting a word out of him, but still just as threatening. _"I _won't be doing anything."

That was some-what reassuring.

A little bit.

A _very_ tiny bit.

"I'm just here to make sure you don't escape. Though it looks quite unlikely, but we can never be too careful. Especially since we aren't at village headquarters, and a spy like you able to sneak in undetected with quite an impressive jutsu-"

"I'm not a spy" Sirius interrupted, failing to sound calm.

The man lifted an eyebrow. "You deny it? You don't feel ashamed, forsaking your village's pride?"

Sirius hadn't the faintest clue what he was talking about. "I-I'm telling the truth! This wasn't supposed to happen, it was all an accident."

"Well, we'll find that out very soon. Your comrades shouldn't be too much longer."

Sirius jerked up. Comrades? Was he meaning James, Peter and Remus?

"Ah…surprised?" the man asked, watching him curiously.

"What do you mean?"

"No need to pretend otherwise, we know of your accomplices. They were caught not long after yourself, a few miles from the headquarters' boundaries. Apparently not as discrete, but wearing the same robes."

"What? H-how?"

"A clan of my village possesses the Byakugan, one of the Three Great Dojutsu. They spotted them merely a few minutes after we got you."

Byakugan? Dojutsu? Those words went right over Sirius' head, which was feeling as though it was going to explode with fear any second now. A cold silence fell across the tent once again and the man resumed his previous act of watching him quietly. The minutes went by, though hours sounded like a more accurate term for Sirius. He wondered whether this new feeling which had arisen since having heard about his 'comrades' was one of relief. He didn't want it to be, because in his heart he knew he was being selfish. Should he not be concerned that his friends would soon be undergoing the same forthcoming torture as him? Should he not be angered or upset that they had been caught? He wished he could say it was that simple. But the thought of them all suffering together was too reassuring.

This was how it always was. Detentions at Hogwarts were no punishment, but merely a small payment for a few moments of entertainment and a boost to popularity. As long as James was there, he would endure it. Even if he was to spend hours cleaning the trophy room Muggle-style for the caretaker, he would sit there with a stupid grin still plastered on his face, knowing that he would have someone who would share his complaints later. But this time it wouldn't be just a mere act of polishing trophies or writing lines. And for the first time Sirius felt guilty for holding the desire for his friends to be with him.

The door flapped open and Inoichi stepped inside the tent, followed by four others. Sirius' heart skipped a beat when he recognised two of the figures as James and Remus, in front of two new men who pushed them forward. Their faces turned to shock when they saw him sitting to the side with his hands too bound like theirs. But underneath their expressions was relief, enough to make Sirius' guilt vanish.

"Thank you, Ibiki" Inoichi said as the scarred man stood up.

As James and Remus turned to look at him, their shock morphed into fear. And for good reason, as he grinned at them evilly in a way such that would give small children nightmares.

"So, this is it, then?" said Ibiki. "They don't look like much."

"We'll see soon enough" Inoichi replied. "I'm going to start now. It'll be better to find out who we are dealing with first before taking them to the Kage." He nodded to the two men behind him who let go of James and Remus. As they left the tent, his eyes shifted between the three wizards.

"Right, who should we start with?"

There was a pause in which Sirius prayed he wouldn't wet himself. He hadn't noticed before, but these men had not allowed him a toilet break and his bladder was about to give in. Remus' face was even paler than usual - if that was possible - and he looked dangerously close to fainting, while James was failing miserably to keep his composure.

'_Shit.'_

* * *

__TBC


	4. An Invasion Of Mind

**AN: Thank you again to the reviewers. I apologise again for the very late update. MelissaKatherine, you are right, and I am sorry I couldn't keep my promise. I will not make promises I cannot keep from now, though I will try to update as regularly as I can.**

**Not much happens in this chapter as opposed to the upcoming ones, but I thought it should be one in it's own as it will be a vital part of the story later on. Still, hope you enjoy.**

Chapter 4: An Invasion Of Mind

"Let go! Let go of me!"

Sirius stared in horror at the small boy flailing his arms desperately in attempt to free himself. His eyes – no, all his senses - were deceiving him, surely. There was no possible way that he could now be standing in that dimly lit hallway, seeing what he was seeing. The woman tightened her grip on her son's shoulders with one hand to prevent him from wiggling free and lifted the other to grasp his small cheeks, turning his head roughly to force him to look at her. The boy's face came into clearer view as strands of messy, black hair were shaken away from his eyes, and Sirius gasped as realisation hit him that he was staring at a ten-year-younger version of himself.

"You will come now and sit with the rest of the family" the woman said sternly. He may have been at a complete loss as to what was happening, but that didn't stop the gust of hatred from rising in Sirius' throat. How he hated to hear her voice, that voice which had made his childhood hell.

"Idonwanna…" his six year-old self mumbled, looking down at the floor.

"What was that?" his mother asked.

"I don't want to."

"But you will. This is an important night for our family and I will not have you dishonouring the name. You will behave yourself, and help Bella and Narcissa set up the table now."

"But I hate them! Can't I help Andromeda instead?"

"The table needs to be set. You will do as you are told."

"Why doesn't Regulus have to do anything?"

"Because he is two years younger than you. Now do as I tell you and hurry up! They will be here soon." The woman let go of her son and watched him enter the kitchen sulkily, taking no notice of the present Sirius gaping at the scene from the foot of the stairs only five metres away.

But before Sirius could process his thoughts, however, his surroundings shifted and he found himself standing inside a familiar carriage that was no doubt one of the Hogwarts Express. He moved aside as a group of students rushed towards him but was too slow to react properly in his shocked state, and realised too late that a girl's trolley was going to collide with him. He closed his eyes, waiting to have his feet knocked out beneath him, but nothing came. He spun round and saw the girl walking away directly behind him. There was no way she could have avoided him in time. Had she gone straight _through_ him? Sirius scoured his brain but no logic came. Instead, only three of his choicest words:

_What the fuck? _

His shock increased tenfold when he saw an eleven year-old image of himself board the train, wearing stained black robes two sizes too big for him. If he remembered correctly, those were the handed down robes which had once belonged to an older cousin on his father's side. Not that it mattered in the slightest now, though. Sirius mentally scolded his brain for losing topic with every second that passed.

_What the hell is going on?_

What had happened for him to end up in some twisted dream of seeing younger flashes of _himself?_ The last sane thing he remembered was that Inoichi man having dragged him over to the dome-shaped machine back in the tent before he squeezed his eyes shut in awaiting his upcoming torture, but to his surprise instead feeling a warm palm placed calmly on his forehead. Sirius hadn't had the guts to open his eyes and when he did after hearing his own familiar younger voice seconds later, he had found himself standing in the hall of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Now he was on the Hogwarts express where there was no tent, no Inoichi, no James, no Remus. Only _himself._

What had Inoichi done to him? Was this the torture? Being trapped in some illusion with the him from the past? It had happened when the man had touched his forehead. But it was impossible. It couldn't be.

_Am…I dead?_

Maybe that was it. Had Inoichi killed him, and his spirit accidentally drifted into this distorted dream? But he hadn't received his torture yet. Was this what the scarred man had meant by him getting it easy?

"What do you want?"

Sirius was pulled away from his disarray of thoughts when he heard the sickening voice of one of his most hated cousins. His younger self was now standing in front of Narcissa Black who was around fifteen.

"Don't think you're going to sit with us" Narcissa sneered, which caused the eleven year-old to blush as it drew the attention of other students.

"Who says I want to sit with you?" he snapped. "I just came to tell you to move out of the way. I want to get through."

Narcissa's smirk faded. "Why would I do that when you speak to me so rudely, brat?"

This whole scene was starting to look oddly familiar to Sirius now, and it didn't come as a surprise to him when he rammed his trolley forward and she toppled over backwards, falling into an unsuspecting boy. She blushed furiously, but before she could react, her cousin had vanished into the next compartment. Sirius followed his younger self, beginning to piece together that this wasn't in fact a dream or illusion, but his own memory of his first day on the Hogwarts Express. The day he had met…

"Hey! Mind if I join you?" a boy with messy black hair asked, straightening his glasses. It was James.

The young Sirius spun around, regarding the boy with interest. The older Sirius smiled. He remembered this particular memory very well. It was one of his most treasured, when he met had his best friend and the first person he ever felt could understand him other than Andromeda whom had shared his misfortunes of being a member of the Black family.

"I'm James Potter" the young James said. "I think it was pretty cool how you showed up that stupid girl back there. Who was she anyway?"

"My cousin."

James' face showed a sign of momentary shock, and Sirius remembered how he had expected him to say something in Narcissa's defence. But instead, James grinned. "Geesh, poor you. If I had a git like that for a cousin I would have pushed her off a bridge or something already."

The young Sirius smiled back. "I have considered that myself. She's not the only one though. Everyone else would take here side. It'd be too risky."

"What? You have more cousins like her? Man, you must come from a pretty shit family."

Another person would have taken this comment to be offensive, but this was what had drawn Sirius to James. He had spent his entire childhood hating the other Blacks, and it was great to hear someone else agree with him. It made him feel like he wasn't the "different one" as his mother had liked to call him, and there was someone else out there who could see what they were really like.

"Yep. Loads of shitheads. My name is Sirius."

James grinned again. "Would you like to find a seat then and tell me more about these shitheads?"

The train's compartment morphed into stone walls and Sirius' surroundings expanded until the inside of the Great Hall was formed. He was now at the sorting ceremony, seeing himself walk up nervously to sit down on the stool and have the Sorting Hat placed on his head. A few seconds passed and the Hat shouted "Gryffindor!" The young James gave him a wink and he walked down to the cheering red and gold table, feeling like the world belonged to him, oblivious to the dark look coming from Narcissa at the Slytherin table.

The memory shifted to him meeting Remus and Peter, then lessons, the first Hogwarts Quidditch game, Christmas in the castle with James, then returning to Gimmauld place for the holidays, and starting his second year. These memories ran by like a series of flashbacks that played in the black box device many Muggles owned, and as he watched himself get older, Sirius began to wonder what was going to happen to him when they ran out. The theory of having been silently and painlessly assassinated by Inoichi was looking the most likely right now and that he was reliving his life in his final moments, just as the old cliché' said.

Much was missed out, and only the highlights seemed to be replayed – either the really good stuff or the really bad stuff, having seemed to have started by the first thing he could ever remember from his mother's house. The memory was now of him in his alternate animal form, after he had gotten the nickname "Padfoot."

"You've almost got it, Wormtail" James was saying encouragingly to Peter. "I'm sure you can get it by next Monday when Moony transforms, then we can all go down to see him together."

Remus blushed. "You guys really don't have to do this…"

"We said we would and we will." James replied. "Besides, it will be fun. We're not gonna let you have an all-nighter by yourself in that creepy old shack without us."

The dog-form Sirius barked in agreement before the scene shifted again, to them creating the Marauder's Map, the moment after their O.W.L. exams, then the beginning of their sixth year, until it came to the moment of their gravest mistake.

Sirius wanted to shout out to stop himself from performing the apparition, but it was useless. It was inevitable that it would happen, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He could only stand there watching hopelessly as he arrogantly took out his wand and turn on the spot. He expected to relive the moment of his brief fight with the Muggle girl – or more like brief humiliation – but he was only in her tent for a few seconds before he found himself gazing up in astonishment at Inoichi, who had his palm still placed firmly on his forehead.

Inoichi opened his eyes and removed his hand, causing Sirius to flinch. But he didn't strike him as Sirius expected, instead turning around to face the two men who were holding James and Remus.

"Padfoot! Are you okay?" James shouted.

Sirius was kept frozen by shock. He couldn't take his eyes off of his captor. He hadn't killed him?

_What was all that just now?_

Just what had he done?

"Hey! Padfoot!" James turned to Inoichi worriedly when he got no response. "What the hell did you do to him?!"

"Well?" the man holding Remus asked. "What did you find out?"

Inoichi looked at the three boys with awe. "They're not enemies…" he began.

The other men waited, but he didn't say any more. He was too deep in thought.

"Well, what are they doing here then? Inoichi?"

Inoichi regained his composure. "You can release their bounds-"

"What?"

"-but before that, we'll take these. They can't attack us without them." He walked over to James and Remus and searched their robes, taking their wands.

"H-how did you know?" Remus began but was cut off by Sirius.

"You read my mind, didn't you?" he asked Inoichi directly.

"Yes" he replied. "Everything that you saw, I saw."

"Aren't you going to check the others too?" Remus' captor asked.

"There's no need. They are all under the same affiliation. I already saw all we need to know. You can release them now."

The men hesitantly untied James and Remus' bounds while Inoichi untied Sirius'.

"Inoichi-san, what's going on?"

"We'll take them to the Kage. I'll explain everything from there."

TBC

**Thanks again. Please review, you know how much I love 'em. (And criticisms too, that's better than nothing as well as useful to improve this!) My exams are over for the year now, so I do have some good time up my sleeve. That also depends on how much you guys want me to carry on writing as well...So let me know, okay? 'Til next time then!**


	5. Meeting And Decision

**AN: Thank you reviewers and everyone who has favorited / followed this story. Enjoy.**

Chapter 5: Meeting and Decision

"Could you tell us what's going on now?" James asked for the hundredth time, one again failing to get any reaction.

Remus was quiet, not unusual for him when in a dangerous and confusing situation, mentally begging his idiot of a friend to shut his mouth. He was feeling much better than he did thirty minutes ago; after having heard the blonde man with the sharp jaw say that they were "not enemies" and ordering his captor to release his bounds. Not to mention his wrists felt good.

James, however, had been too focused on the silent "torture" he had watched his best friend undergo which had resulted in Sirius wearing an unusually dazed expression and not having uttered a single word during the walk. He did not share Remus' relief at all, and was almost convinced Inoichi had hexed Sirius, oblivious to the fact that Sirius might just be contemplating over his array of memories which had flashed before him like a Muggle film moments ago.

So Remus was relieved, as much as one could be in a predicament such as this one, James was moments away from shitting his pants - which no-one will _ever_ know, okay? - and Sirius… well, Sirius was elsewhere, his mind far from the faded, dirt path on which he was walking.

People stared as the odd group passed, but the boys didn't pay them much attention. They followed Inoichi in silence – James having given up on nagging now – with Ibiki and the other two captors bringing up the rear to make sure they didn't attempt a runner. After what felt like hours to James, they reached a stop in front of a huge, guarded tent which was located more towards the end of the campsite, shielded from the mountains behind by a huge array of rock.

Inoichi stepped inside and Ibiki motioned for the teenage wizards to follow. He nodded to the other two men and they left back in the direction they had come from.

"Well, go on in" Ibiki sneered when neither of the boys moved.

James looked at his two friends and gulped, entering first. He was the leader of the group after all and their little apparition 'experiment' had been his idea, so, being the brave and noble Gryffindor he was, he stepped in after Inoichi. Once inside, he was greeted with eight new pairs of eyes, four of them belonging to people wearing different coloured flak jackets who each stood behind the chair of someone sitting around a table in the centre of the tent. James assumed they were guards and judging by the unique outfits of the people sitting at the table, he came to the conclusion that they were the leaders of this camp or tribe or whatever affiliation his captors belonged to.

One of the assumed guards was a girl about a year or two older than he was, with sandy, blonde hair tied in four ponytails and a long, black scroll she carried on her back. James didn't think he wanted to know what was in there – probably some deadly, hidden weapon of some sort. In front of the girl sat a strange looking boy about the wizard's age, dressed in a crimson coat which matched his messy red hair, under a grey holster vest. A sand-coloured gourd was on the ground beside his chair, but his appearance was more interesting. He would have looked somewhat scary with the matching red tattoo on his forehead if he wasn't wearing that bored, off-hand expression, and James swallowed the urge to laugh at his missing eyebrows.

To the left of the blonde girl was another girl of about the same age. Her hair was shorter and black and she seemed the sort who liked to cause trouble – James could easily tell when one was a fellow rule breaker. The chair in front of her was occupied by a very short old man who had his long, white hair tied in a topknot, and the same mischievous eyes. They looked related. To their left sat a blonde woman with lazy brown eyes. James' first thought was that she was quite pretty… actually, _pretty _was an understatement for she was extremely _beautiful_. Remus, beside him, apparently thought the same, staring oddly at her chest with a look that didn't usually occupy his face. James forced himself to look away quickly before a blush could surface, his eyes next landing on the man behind her who sported a black goatee and ponytail which resembled a – James couldn't think of a more accurate description – pineapple.

The seat next to them was empty. James' eyes drifted across to the last pair; a tall, stern-looking man with an eye patch standing behind an auburn-haired woman in a dark blue dress. This time, James couldn't stop the blush, for _this_ woman's beauty was… he couldn't think of a word. Her face, especially her deep emerald eyes, so strongly resembled a certain girl he had admired for years, but she and was even _prettier_ than her.

_Heck, if Lily looks like _this _when she's-_

James' thought was cut off when a new man burst into the tent.

"There better be a good reason to have called us all here" he said roughly to Inoichi. This man was big. Really big. Not to mention intimidating. He was dark skinned and extremely strong-built, his muscles showing through his white cape practically screaming "touch me and I'll kill you." His eyes narrowed suspiciously when they landed on the three young wizards. James heard Remus gulp audibly next to him, and Sirius' mind had joined them again, with his legs now shaking.

"What kept you, Raikage?" the old man spoke from the table.

The dark-skinned man looked away from the wizards and made his way towards him. "I was dealing with a rather important issue amongst my men." He took the vacant seat between the two women, deciding to dismiss it.

"Well, we're all here now" the blonde woman said. "Inoichi has made an important discovery."

_How does she know?_ Remus thought. They had only just arrived already. _Did they communicate telepathically or something?_

The woman nodded to Inoichi to begin. James and Remus listened in horror as he explained everything. They didn't know whether they were more shocked by the fact that the man had read Sirius' mind or of what was going to happen to them now that they knew all about them. A long silence pursued his finish, in which everyone in the room stared at the trio of wizards.

The man referred to as 'Raikage' was the first to speak. "I don't trust them."

There was a pause.

"What about the evidence that -" the old man began, but he was quickly cut off.

"Evidence? There is no evidence."

"What do you mean?"

"These boys are users of techniques we have never even heard of before. Which means that they could have hidden knowledge from us, can it not?" The Raikage turned to Inoichi. "Who is to say that what you saw is real? There is no proof that you _really_ read that boy's mind, he could have concealed the truth with this _magic_ they speak of. What if that is just what he wants us to think?"

"Lord Raikage-sama, I understand your concern, but I can assure you that my jutsu along with our mind reading amplification machine has never failed in an interrogation unless the victim had a counter or barrier technique to prevent it. This boy did not have one, and I was able to enter his mind exactly the same way that I have done with all other minds in the past."

"But what about a genjutsu?"

"The Yamanaka clan is one of the most prominent in our village" the pineapple-haired man interjected. "Inoichi's chakra control is that of the best. He can detect a genjutsu and counter it just as easily. I'm sure he would have checked for one straight away."

"Yes," said Inoichi. "They can't have put a genjutsu past me after we caught them. Unless it was before-hand, but they were caught in different locations, and we had them off-guard."

The Raikage remained sceptical, though his expression softened a little.

But before he could say more, the boy with the red hair spoke up. "So if it's true then, how can it be that they're from a place we have never even heard of? It can't be within the Great Nations. And by what you described, the transportation device they 'ride' to school… There is no such thing, is there?"

"I can't explain that" Inoichi replied. "I don't know what it is, but it _is _real."

_The hell?_ thought Sirius.

"So they're not spies" said the woman in the blue dress. "And you turned up here by accident." She spoke directly to the wizards, the first person to acknowledge that they were still in the room.

It was a statement, not a question, but they all nodded. James' face grew hot. Her voice was so soft and gentle. _These people are weird. But she's… nice._

She turned back to her companions. "I don't see them posing any threat."

The Raikage opened his mouth to protest, but she continued. "Judging by how easily they were caught, I'd say they are just what they appear to be. A bunch of trouble-making kids."

James and Sirius' mouths fell open. _Trouble-making kids?_ Preposterous! In less than a year they would be fully grown wizards!

"She has a point" said the old man.

"That's exactly it!" the Raikage burst out, determined to prove his own point.

"What? That they're kids?" the old man asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No! The manner in which they were captured. If they can use techniques that can travel metres ahead of them and hit a target even faster than my lightning jutsu, then how come they got caught so easily?"

"Because they are a group of stupid kids?" the blonde woman offered.

"Stupid kids?!" the Raikage asked, clearly shocked, though not as much as said _kids_ who surely hadn't expected _this_ reaction from the strongest and most scary looking man they had ever seen. "You of all people should know, Hokage, never to underestimate your enemy no matter how young they are. Then what is all that I've heard about your Jinchuuriki? How he saved the village, how he's really all he's lived up to be? They're about the same age!"

She laughed. "You're comparing _these_ brats to him? Come on, Raikage, Inoichi has already seen what they are like. They attempted a technique beyond their level of skill and they wound up here, then got themselves caught by the first people they came across, one of them being a chunin of mine who was busy tending her flowers."

"I agree with Lady Hokage" said the red-haired boy.

"But what if they got themselves caught on purpose? What if they are spies and this is all a plan to gain our trust?"

"That's not possible, Raikage-sama" said the Hokage's guard. "We have too much proof against it. This is all just a mistake thanks to foolish play gone wrong. Now we must decide what we are going to do about them."

"You watch your place, Konoha ninja-"

"Shikaku is the jonin commander of my village and the smartest man I know" the Hokage interjected. "His word is as good as my own. Besides, we have bigger issues, there's no point arguing this any further.

The Raikage was not impressed.

"What are we going to do though?" said the other woman. "We can't let them go, since the Akatsuki could catch them, and they would get information on the allied forces."

"Exactly" said Shikaku. "I suggest we keep them here at Headquarters."

Sirius felt a pang of fear. The words escaped his mouth before he could stop himself. "You mean you're going to keep us captured? As in, hold us hostage?"

"You're not going to lock us up, right?" James added, worriedly.

Shikaku carried on, speaking to the leaders. "Well, that would be easiest on us, but I don't really see any harm in letting them walk freely."

"What?!" the Raikage protested. "You're saying you're willing to let them roam freely around headquarters?"

Shikaku continued calmly. "They can't hurt anyone without their…"

"Wands" Inoichi filled in.

"So as long as we keep a hold of them, then they won't harm us" Shikaku finished. "And we'll keep a close watch on them; make sure they don't leave the site. Even with their animal transformations, they still have the same chakra pattern. We can put a Hyuuga on the job. And who knows, they might be able to help us later on. We really shouldn't rule out that possibility… Does that sound fair? Lady Mizukage? Lords Tsuchikage, Kazekage?"

"That plan doesn't sound too harmless" the old man replied.

The Kazekage and Mizukage nodded.

The Raikage sighed. "Well, I guess it'll have to be then… But if you are wrong…" He leered at the wizards, eyes narrowed. His glare, to be quite honest, scared the crap out of them. But among their fear, they felt a singe of relief. They weren't going to die after all… At the moment.

* * *

TBC


	6. A Message To Convey

**AN: Thank you reviewers. To answer Blinded in a bolthole's question about Peter - he will come in soon and he does have a very important role to play which is why I purposely have him away from the other Marauders at the moment. I completely agree that 'no-one is born evil' and personally hate it when writers portray Peter in being evil as a teenager. That won't be how it is in my story, though you'll just have to wait and see what happens with him... And SaturnXK - haha, I have a habit of forgetting the commas when characters speak, I will try and remember from now on.**

**Disclaimer: I realised I haven't been doing this... whoops. Okay, as much as I wish I did, I do not own Naruto nor HP.**

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 6: A Message To Convey

"What of these _wands?_ What have you done with them?" Having been outnumbered in decision, the Raikage was determined not to let the matter settle just yet.

Ibiki stepped forward, reaching into the pocket of his flak jacket and pulling out the three stick-like objects. The wizards stared at them nervously, for the first time realising how much they now longed for their wands after they were taken mere hours ago. They were no longer just devices which enabled them to perform magic, nor toys for gaining popularity among classmates, but the sole thing they _needed_ as wizards, as people, as _themselves_. And there had never been a moment in their lives in which they had needed these wands more than right now.

The Raikage sighed. "Then at least give them to me. If we are going to let these brats run around headquarters, at least let me hold onto their weapons. They won't dare touch them in my possession… will you?" he added threateningly to the wizards, who could only nod back shakily.

"So be it, Raikage," said the blonde woman, motioning for Ibiki to hand the wands over.

The Raikage took them and examined them all but gently. Remus had a sudden surge of horror as the man lightly bent his own and wondered whether he was going to _break_ it. But fortunately, the boy referred to as 'Kazekage' spoke, distracting him.

"So that's really all they had with them?"

"Yes, and _this"_ Ibiki flashed a piece of old parchment. "Hyuuga confiscated it from this one," he pointed to James with his thumb, "when they were searched upon arrival."

"It is a map that they created of their school," said Inoichi. "It tells the exact location of every person within its limits and what they are doing at the time."

Shikaku went to have a closer look. "And they disguised it as piece of blank parchment. Clever… How does it work?"

All eyes in the room fell on the three wizards. Inoichi nodded, and they took it as a sign to explain.

"You tap it with a wand," Remus started shakily, knowing that neither of his two friends was going to speak up. They took too much pride in their work on this top secret document and had agreed even before its creation that it would stay just within the group. But Remus knew full well that Inoichi would already know all he needed about it anyway, and his peoples' trust towards them was not looking too high right now so he might as well be honest. "Then you speak the password and it reveals the map."

"Impressive" said Shikaku, looking back at the blank parchment in Ibiki's hand. "If we had a map like this of our own territories…"

"Well, since it's only of their school, it's worthless here," said the Tsuchikage. "And they can't use it without their wands, right? I suppose you'll be taking it too then, Raikage?"

Ibiki handed the parchment over.

"So that's it then," the blonde woman spoke again. After a short pause in which nobody spoke – the Raikage seemed satisfied enough now with the wands in his hands – she continued. "I will have my shinobi keep watch on them. A jonin and chunin of mine are more than capable for the job and seeing as the war is drawing nearer, it wouldn't be beneficial to have more people involved. These kids won't be able to slip anything past the Byakugan. Any objections?"

_Byakugan._ Sirius was sure that was the word Ibiki had mentioned when he'd asked how James and Remus were caught so quickly. _And now they're gonna keep track of us with this thing? Great._

The Kage reached an agreement and after a long moment of discussion in which Sirius, James and Remus were told to wait outside the tent under Ibiki's watch. They were then lead back down the path from which they had come by Inoichi once again, this time also accompanied by the guard called Shikaku. The wizards knew now that it was okay to speak seeing as they were no longer enemies technically speaking, but didn't know what to say. They had so many questions, but felt it may be better to wait until they had reached their next destination at least as the men leading them were in deep discussion about something they had no clue about to do with some 'zetsu' thing.

Inoichi and Ibiki left to go back to their 'work' waiting for them and Shikaku finally turned to the wizards. "You send letters through the use of owls, correct?" He didn't wait for an answer, Inoichi had probably mentioned it already during the boys' wait outside the tent. "That is very similar to our messaging system; we also use birds to convey scrolls – hawks specially trained in locating almost any place upon sending."

James and Sirius were at a slight loss here, but Remus thought he understood where the man was going with this. _Are they going to let us...?_

"Lord Kazekage has granted permission for you to use one of his village's fast messenger hawks to send word to your Headmaster of where you are" Shikaku confirmed.

"Will it be able to find him?" Remus asked.

"Well, your owls are able to track down a wizard at any location, are they not?"

Remus nodded uncertainly. He had never thought of just _how_ owls managed to do that, but somehow they could find anyone anywhere, even while the receiver was travelling. He supposed it was some sort of magical property. _But these hawks…_ he thought._ They don't have magical properties, do they? These people can't be Muggles, but their techniques and stuff they talk about… they don't seem that surprised by us… Who are they? _What _are they?_

"It's a long shot," Shikaku continued, "but our messenger hawk may just be able to reach your school. They have been known to find places they haven't previously been to in our own nations. The chances are slim, but it is worth the try if we can get into contact with your kind. You aren't able to teleport back into your school even if you figured out how to master it, due to the magical boundaries set up there. But if your Headmaster were to learn of your whereabouts, he may know of a way to get you back home."

The wizards gaped at him. This man may look ridiculous with his pine-apple hair and spiky goatee but there was no denying that he was a genius. They all shared thoughts of absolute astonishment. _How does he know all this?_ _…Of course, it was Inoichi's telling. But he really got all that from reading Sirius' mind for just a few _minutes?

They stopped at a new and rather large tent filled with loud screeching, where Shikaku requested someone called Takamaru to a man busy feeding a hawk. Takamaru turned out to be a hawk instead of a person, much smaller than James and Remus' own pet owls, but they were told that he was the fastest messenger that Suna – the village he was said to belong to – had to offer. They took Takamaru to a tent with a couple of desks where they could write a letter to Professor Dumbledore. Shikaku asked another man to fetch two new people and said it would be best if he wrote it himself but needed the boys' help with the wording and the technical magical terms such as _apparition_ which he himself called 'teleporting.'

The wizards couldn't help but take an immediate liking to him. He seemed to generally want to help them, and wasn't as scary as the bear-like Ibiki, the strong as hell Raikage, or Inoichi. Though only Sirius still found Inoichi overly intimidating – he could swear the man really had it in for him in the way he'd glared at him. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he had walked in on that particular scene with his daughter when Sirius had apparated.

After the hawk took flight, two new strangers entered the tent. James nearly toppled off his chair in fright when he saw them. _What the hell?! _Their eyes were exactly like those belonging to the leader of the group who had caught him and Remus – pupil-less and lavender-white. Remus was a bit calmer this time round and Sirius gaped at them in awe with no shame at his mouth hanging wide open. This would have looked extremely rude under normal circumstances, but the pair was also staring at the three wizards oddly, the girl more so than the boy who had a somewhat more offhand expression.

Both looked about the same age as the wizards – perhaps there was a year or so between the two – and had long hair reaching down to their waists. The boy's hair was brown while the girl's was a dark bluish colour and she had a much softer look on her face. Their faces were similar in shape and their eyes were a dead give-away that they were related to each other – and most likely James and Remus' captor as well.

"You called us here, Shikaku-san?" the boy asked, breaking the silence.

"Yes. Lady Hokage has a new mission for the two of you. Or perhaps the better term would be to say you are going on guard duty."

The boy raised an eyebrow in question.

Shikaku explained the situation, or the more important parts of it as there was a _lot _to explain, and by the time he was finished the boy and girl were gaping at the wizards in shock or surprise – it was hard for James to tell with their _pupil-less_ eyes. Not that he was anywhere near the best at reading emotions anyway.

"So from here on it is your job to make sure they don't leave headquarters," Shikaku finished. He turned to the boys. "Well, I have to get going now, there is other work waiting for me. I'm sure you have a lot of questions you are wanting to ask, which Neji and Hinata can answer for you." He nodded towards the pair of newcomers before exiting the tent.

An awkward silence pursued his leave. James and Sirius secretly wished that Shikaku could have stayed. He was really the only likeable person they had come across so far. The Mizukage and Hokage would have been on that list too if they had not referred to them as 'stupid, trouble-making kids.' And not just because of their looks… okay, maybe, but only in James' opinion.

_But why the hell did they have to put us under the guard of these two freaky looking kids?_ he thought.

"So… " Remus began awkwardly but with a look of determination none-the-less. To put it _nicely_, he was sick of waiting. Sick and tired of hearing all these people talk about him and his friends, knowing everything about them, while he still didn't even know whether _they_ were bloody Muggles or not. He'd been peer-pressured into under-age apparition – yes, he _was_ pressured, and no he was not being cowardly for a Gryffindor by caving to it! – then he had turned up in this unknown crazy place in the middle of fucking nowhere, been captured, had his wand taken from him, and listened to these people reveal almost everything about his time at Hogwarts while he had been a Marauder. Yet he still knew _nothing_ about them! It was time for answers, and he was going to get them _now._

"Who are you people? And what's going on here?"

* * *

TBC

**Reviews are lovely... and also motivationg... 'Til next time then! Happy New Year everyone!**


	7. The Warriors Of Muggle Legend

**AN: Hey, long time no see. I'm a horrible writer, I know. It's been like, months? Okay, I am very sorry. You probably don't want to hear my lame excuses, but I'm going to tell you anyway. I have been busy with my first year at uni and have been paying more attention to my Youtube videos than I should have, and neglecting fanfiction. I hope you guys forgive me for making you wait and I'm sure you will, being the awesome people you are. Thank you to the reviewers, of whom without, this chapter wouldn't be up. So thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Harry Potter.**

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 7: The Warriors Of Muggle Legend

The wizards gaped in awe as their pupil-less guards finally gave the information they had been craving to know since their arrival. The boy named Neji did most of the talking and by the time he was finished his throat was very dry. He wasn't one to usually complain about explaining things unlike a certain pineapple-haired comrade of his – in fact, he rather enjoyed the idea of sharing his knowledge and spreading admiration of his reputation as the 'Hyuuga genius' – but he couldn't help but agree with Shikamaru on this one. His situation was troublesome.

The three idiots now occupying his precious time – Neji had a gift for picking up on one's intellectual status quickly when interacting with said person and there was no doubt that the three sitting in front of him and his cousin were idiots (maybe not the shabby looking one so much but the other two definitely) – were starting to annoy him with their dumbfounded expressions of shock. He couldn't see why it was such a surprise to them that shinobi existed when they themselves could perform _magic_ in completely illogical ways and had even heard of ninja in legends from friends with 'non-magical' parentage.

It also annoyed him how they seemed to have a never-ending array of stupid questions. Maybe he was being a little harsh seeing as they had obviously never encountered anything outside the fancy castle they'd come from, but some of what they asked was logic a child at the academy could understand, and James and Sirius were beginning to miss the point completely, seeming to think that the most basic ninja techniques were forms of magic as well.

"But the girl who caught me… she apparated. That's impossible to do without a wand!"

"Yeah, so did the guys who found us. What was it, then?"

…"What are you talking about?"

"That Shikaku guy called it something else but I forgot what he said. We call it apparating when you disappear and then reappear at another location in a second."

"So how did she do it?"

"Who?"

"The daughter of the mind-reader, Inoichi or whatever he's called."

Neji sighed inwardly. "She didn't. There are very few shinobi who can vanish completely and then reappear at a different location. The only one I know of who actually could was the previous leader of our village, and he is dead."

"But that girl did. One second she was metres in front of me and the next she was _behind_ me…"

If he hadn't been sitting here listening to this for the past hour, then Neji would have found it amusing. He looked over to his cousin whom he could tell wasn't laughing out of politeness. Only Hinata could be as polite as that for so long.

He turned back to the black haired wizard. "Look, Ino can't do that. She was just faster than you and you didn't notice it while you were panicking."

Sirius felt a pang of embarrassment. "I was not panicking!" he said before he could stop himself. He wouldn't stand for being seen as weak in front of his friends, especially when the person who made him seem weak was a _girl._ Yeah, he's pretty sexist.

"It's okay, I would have panicked too," Hinata spoke up, reminding them that she was in the room. She gave him a nervous smile. "Ino is really strong."

Her voice was soft and kind, her words clearly meant to be comforting though instead they made Sirius feel worse. "But I wasn't," he muttered through gritted teeth, searching for a change of topic that wouldn't risk embarrassing himself further – in other words not involving the girl who had captured him nor her father. He then remembered the strange word he had heard in the torture tent and Kage meeting and his eagerness to find out what it was.

"How did your people find James and Remus so fast anyway? What exactly is this bakagone thing?"

Neji frowned. _This WHAT thing? _He reminded himself that the boy was a_ wizard,_ not a ninja, and had never heard of the Dojutsu before. "The _Byakugan_ is a bloodline limit of our clan which gives us near 360 degree vision and the ability to see farther than the normal eye, through objects and into the chakra flow of every living being within range when activated."

"So the leader of the ninja who caught the two of us is from your clan and he could see us all the way from the campsite?" Remus asked with wide eyes. He was always the quickest to catch on.

The two Hyuuga nodded.

"But we were kilometres away! That's impossible," James gasped, throwing his cool manner aside. "How far can you see then?"

"That depends on the person and their amount of experience using the Byakugan, but right now both Hinata and I can see past ten kilometres."

…

"But it doesn't make sense. How can it be logical for people to see _through_ things, a-and stuff flowing_ inside_ someone's body?"

"Is it really so hard to believe when you can create and reconstruct matter out of thin air by saying a word and waving your wands? Explain that logic then."

James looked at his two friends in awe. Sirius' face reflected his own expression and didn't have to read his mind to know they were thinking identical thoughts. Remus' eyebrows were knitted together for a moment as they always did when he thought hard but couldn't find an answer, before he resigned to give him a 'he-has-a-fair-point-you-know' look.

"We can prove it if you don't believe us," Hinata said kindly when neither of the wizards spoke. She looked towards Neji.

He would have activated his Byakugan as he had mastered it long ago without the hand seals, but remembering explaining that ninja techniques require their use and not being in the mood for going into details of advanced ways, he lazily performed the hand movements. The wizards watched as the Hyuuga's eyes changed in less than a second, slight outlines having appeared where a regular person's pupils would be and the veins around his temple now bulging.

"Okay…" Neji's eyes darted over Remus. "You have a bandage around your left arm and plasters across the left side of your body under your ribcage." He then turned to Sirius, "the shoes you are wearing used to belong to Orion Black," and lastly to James, "and you have a tattoo of a ball with wings and horizontal lines overlapping it on your right shoulder."

_Impossible,_ James thought. But at this there was no denying that Neji was telling the truth, that the Byakugan and its abilities did exist. How else could he know the results of Remus' injuries to himself last week during the full moon? Or Sirius' father's name? Or of the Golden Snitch he had paid the seventh year captain of his Quidditch team to design on his shoulder last year?

"Alright, alright, we believe you!" Sirius exclaimed. "Now could you turn it off? That's seriously freaky!"

Neji's eyes went back to how they normally would be, besides their new gleam of amusement. "Anything else you want to know?"

"I think we're good for now," Remus said quickly. There was plenty more he wanted to ask, but right now his head in the same state as his friends' – a huge puddle of confusion. As much as he wanted to know more, he had to clear it first. "Would you guys mind leaving us for a few minutes, just so… we can get our heads around this?"

The two ninja stood and headed towards the door. On their way out Neji turned. "Don't think of trying to escape or anything. If you do, we'll know…"

"Ok, so now what?" Sirius whispered. He glanced around nervously but avoided looking in the direction of the door. Neji and Hinata would obviously be sitting right outside the tent, watching their every move. "What the hell are we going to do?"

"What they tell us," Remus said bluntly. "Oh, don't give me that look," he added to James. "If the two of you want to cause some more trouble for yourselves then that's fine. But this time I'm out."

"So you want to just sit here and be their prisoner?"

"Yeah."

"Well, that's great. Since there's a war coming and everything, I'm sure they'll eventually decide to let us go before we all get killed," James said sarcastically.

"Rather here than out there."

"What?"

Remus looked up to see James and Sirius exchange looks which sent a wave of frustration through his body. "This isn't another one of your stupid pranks. Were you not listening at the meeting earlier? Even if they let us go then their enemy would catch us and torture us to get information on what we know."

"It surely wouldn't be that bad though," Sirius started, sensing the upcoming argument. It wasn't every day that Remus got angry, but he was the sort of person to hold grudges and when they did fight he'd always end up sulking for days afterwards. "I mean look at our so-called torture, right? The guy only read my mind."

"And who's to say the others will be just as nice? What if these guys are up against someone like You-Know-Who?"

James and Sirius opened their mouths and closed them a few times. They had to admit, Remus had them there. But surely there couldn't be someone as evil as the mysterious mass murderer who had been terrorising the wizard world for the past few years that no-one could defeat? Voicing this out loud, however, only caused Remus' temper to flare.

"These ninja easily overpowered us and they themselves are afraid of what's out there which means whoever they are fighting must be really powerful-"

"Afraid?" James couldn't stop the snort. "Oh, come on. You're being paranoid, Moony. They didn't look afraid to me-"

"Look at the meeting, there were five leaders and they were each from a different village! My guess is that they got together to fight this war, and not long ago by the way they spoke to each other, and the fact that they each have their own personal guard in their headquarters. They don't seem to trust each other fully, though clearly you didn't notice because you were going all fucking google eyes at the Mizukage or whatever she's called."

"Dude," Sirius interjected. "You can't blame him for that. She's like a totally hot version of Lily-"

"Yeah, that's not fair! I saw how you looked at the Hokage. You couldn't take your eyes off her chest! Though she was really-"

"That's it with you two, everything is just a bloody joke!" Remus suddenly found himself standing.

A silence passed in which he glared at his friends' shocked faces, and then he started towards the tent's exit.

"Where are you going?" James called.

…

"Come on, Moony, don't be like that."

But Remus had already stepped outside.

James and Sirius looked at each other. Neither had to speak to understand what the other was thinking, and they were both following the same trail of thought. For the first time in their lives, they felt like the 'stupid kids' the Kage had called them. The stupid kids that they were.

* * *

TBC

**You know the deal. I write, you read, you review, I write more. 'Til next time then - which WILL be soon, to compensate for my neglect in updating.**


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